The following is the first batch of responses to The Cadiz Record’s request for stories of our readers’ memories of the American Legion Swimming Pool in Cadiz.

The pool celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, and a good deal of hard work has been made to renovate the facility for this summer. A new diving board was installed last week, and local residents had been enjoying the water even before that.

The Cadiz Record will periodically publish memories submitted throughout the summer. To send in your favorite story of summers past at the pool, email jmcgill@cadizrecord.com (be sure to include your mailing address and phone number for verification), stop by our office at 58 Nunn Blvd. in Cadiz or send mail to P.O. Box 1670, Cadiz, KY 42211.

Thanks to Jan Malmer,

J. Terry Fuqua and Laura G. White for getting us started with your memories this week.

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Since I was a baby, my parents would spend summer vacation visiting family in Trigg and Christian County. Staying in Trigg meant going swimming pool with my boy cousin.

As summers passed, we moved from the shallow section to the deep end. We finally made it to the deep end in the late 1950s. I will never forget the fear, desire, panic and determination as I dog paddled for the lifeguard’s approval. My bigger, stronger and often meaner cousin made it with ease while I made it without swallowing all the water in the pool. Now we were big kids and ready for the diving boards. We would dive for the quarters that we brought for our snacks!

Later in the day, those quarters were spent on a bag of Tom’s Peanuts dumped in a bottle of Dr. Pepper. We would lie on the hot roof smell the mix of Coppertone and Noxzema while the loud speaker blasted 1960s songs, especially “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “Sukiuaki.”

I thing that was the same year I returned to Illinois with green hair from getting a perm followed by hours of sun and chlorine. My cousin may have been meaner that summer, but I was greener! Thank you American Legion pool for the good times and fond memories.

Jan Malmer

Cadiz

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I am 71 years old and moved from Mayfield to Cadiz about 1940, not long after the pool was built.

My mother, Carolyn Wilford Fuqua, taught her group of Campfire Girls to swim there. Originally she had taught in Little River above the dam of White Milling Company at the US 68 Bridge.

I remember swimming in the “deep end” as the pool was being filled and only the “V” itself had any water in it. Parents often sat in wooden bleachers, shaded by a roof, at the northern pool end. One had to wade through shallow pools of copper sulfate as one left the dressing room ostensibly to kill athlete’s foot fungus.

A steep path led down the hill on the eastern side ending on a little road, parallel to Little River that led to an old concrete bunker that apparently served to store dynamite. Along that path, I saw my first orange Angels’ Trumpet vines. There were almost no buildings on Swimming Pool Hill except the Legion Lodge on the south side of the gravel driveway up the hill to the pool. As I recall, it later burned.

Yes, the old American Legion Swimming Pool has meant a lot to Cadizians!

J. Terry Fuqua

Hopkinsville

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The American Legion Swimming Pool was an integral part of our “summer life” in Cadiz. Bill, Porter and Stuart learned to swim there. Since we lived so close to Lake Barkley and were involved with activities there, it was extremely important to know how to swim.

It was fun to join other mothers and their children. Each of us “kept an eye on” all of the children and I can’t recall a single incident where one of our children was in danger.

It was “easy”. Just wear your bathing suit, gather up the sunscreen and towel and go. No equipment to carry or maintain--just a few water toys to enjoy.

The pool management and lifeguards knew the families and children who swam there and were interested in the enjoyment and welfare of all participants.

Not only did the pool provide the tools for children to learn a life skill, it nurtured the community in a way no other entity could. It was the perfect setting for complete enjoyment without stress. The greatest problem might have been one child playfully “dunking” another without permission. How stressful is that?

Congratulations! and Best Wishes on the 75th celebration! “Happy Summer” to all who will enjoy the pool this summer!